War coverage exposes harsh reality
By Colleen Snyder
Rarely do we hear the media question itself. In the first few days of the War on Iraq, however, such an unthinkable thing did happen. Amidst the constant flow of war updates and images that continuously run on the news, a CNN anchorman shook his head and admitted his concerns: we really have no idea how this 24-hour, live war coverage is going to affect us. He made this statement as if it were a question.
And I don't know the answer. Just hearing a member of the media criticizing the media was surprising, refreshing and somewhat disturbing to me. It solidified my doubts about this in-your-face news strategy and made me really think - what is this all about?
No longer are we forced to depend on Hollywood for our images of what war must look like. With "embedded" reporters traveling along with U.S. and British troops, we are able to see real-life war action with a simple click of the remote. We can go from watching the mating practices of the praying mantis to green and black night vision images of tanks rolling across the Iraqi desert. In a way, we are experiencing this war right along with the soldiers on the front lines. Granted, it is not as drastic or dangerous to those of us sitting in our living rooms, but the explosions of buildings being bombed are impressive - even on television.
On one hand, the soap opera drama of it all is absolutely nauseating to me. People are dying and we're treating it like a reality-television show. My psychology background tells me that the ridiculous accessibility of it all will lead to nothing but trouble. Levels of anxiety and stress must be sky-rocketing as a result. Why?
Put simply, because war is scary.
Maybe we didn't completely understand this before, but watching it on the news, we can't help but admit our fear. Then maybe all this media coverage is not so bad after all. Watch the bombing of a city on CNN for a day and it becomes pretty hard to think of war in the abstract. Suddenly, the fighting becomes real and we cannot help but realize that war equals death.
And when we witness this death firsthand via the media, we are forced to accept responsibility for what we, as a nation, have chosen. No longer can we wash our hands of the matter by declaring our contempt for the president.
Whether we want this war or not, whether we voted for Bush or not, we are living life in the United States and this carries with it certain implications. So regardless of our position on the matter, we must now accept responsibility for what is going on - and this will not be easy. In past wars, before we had such on-the-spot access to our involvement overseas, it was not such a challenge.
These days, with the developments of technology pushing forward, we must witness what we are responsible for - and I think, ultimately, that is a good thing.